On the June 20th episode of Antiques Roadshow, a guest brought in a drawing she’d found in a skip. The drawing in question ended up fetching a four-figure valuation.
The drawing shows two people embracing in swimming trunks.
Antiques Roadshow expert Frances Christie noted that the drawing was ‘unmistakably’ done by Quentin Blake. She had this to say of the illustration:
“This is unmistakably the work of Quentin Blake, with that pen and ink line, the spontaneity of it, those huge smiling faces.”
Blake, famous for his illustrations featuring in many Roald Dahl books, is a well-renowned artist.
How did she find the drawing?
The guest who brought the drawing was aware of this. She told Christie the story behind her owning this illustration.
She’d found the illustration in a skip in London thirty years ago.
“I was an art student in London, I had a summer holiday job to clear out an office of a charity. And amongst all the papers that were going in the skip was this drawing.”
But the guest took this one step further. Having recognised the drawing as one of Blake’s, she managed to get it signed.
A few years later, a friend of hers was going to interview Blake, so she gave him the drawing. She asked the friend to get it signed if possible. Blake was happy to do so, and even told her friend the story behind the drawing.
According to Blake, the drawing was an illustration for a leaflet about contraception.
“Originally, the couple were naked, but the powers that be thought it was a little bit risqué, so he was asked to put the swimming costumes on them.”
How much was the drawing valued at?
With the signature, the fame of Quentin Blake as an illustrator, and the time that had passed, Christie valued the drawing between £1,000 and £1,500.
The guest was thrilled at the news, exclaiming: “Oh my goodness, that’s amazing!”
For other impressive amounts of money, why not read about the top ten highest-paid acting jobs of all time?
